It's China Cat's 12th Birthday today!

Today China Cat Sunflower is 12 years old. She is celebrating by napping out in the very warm screened-in porch. Later she will get lots of treats and of course Willow will too!

Doodle Earth

OK, I am running late on my doodles for Doodle Week.
Tuesday was Doodle Earth and I am just now posting it.
I hope to get Doodle Water up later today!

Doodle Sunflower and Not The Mama Monday!

It's Doodle Week Again!
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The first doodle is Doodle Sunflower!
Laura picked August 31st to be "Doodle Party" as it is her Grandmother's Birthday. I had commented that it is also the birthday of my cat, China Cat Sunflower, so I should start doodling a China Cat Sunflower birthday post right away. Of course I tend to procrastinate so that doodle is not ready yet! However Mo, aka Not The Mama, left a comment suggesting one of the theme's to be "sunflower in honor of Sammawow" and today is Doodle Sunflower! I think that it is very cool so, of course, I had to doodle my China Cat Sunflower in a sunflower!
It is also Not The Mama Monday!
This was proclaimed by the Cat Blogosphere!
Mo is a wonderful person who cares so much for all kitties
and he is a "cat magnet" for kitties who need his help.
In fact, Stinky Pete just came to Mo for help and you can read about him here.
Thank you for all you do!
~~~~~
And, if you want to buy any gifts,or a little something for yourself,
visit Not The Mama's store, The Wren's Nest.

WCB: Filters and my Cats

I was playing with a picture of China Cat and Willow that I had set at the indoor incandescent setting. It wasn't supposed to be set there as I was taking their picture in the screened-in porch with natural daylight. But I had forgotten to check it before I took their picture. Pictures turn out very blue when that setting is used outdoors. So the first picture here is the original out of the camera with no changes. The program I have is Photoshop Elements 6 and I played around with the filters until I got the colors to look more realistic for a daytime outdoors picture. Since I was having fun so far, I decided to try making their picture black and white. I'm not sure that this was the best picture to try making black and white though. So I used the filter called Poster Edges and I kind of like it... Weekend Cat Blogging is being hosted this week
by Samantha, Mr. Tigger and Mom Chandra at As The Squillion World Spins.

PhotoHunt Theme: Wrinkled

The theme this week is "wrinkled" and I love going to the St. Louis Zoo. You can park on the street or pay to park in a parking lot but there is no admission at all to get into the zoo. My husband and I go at least a couple of times every year. In fact, when we don't know what we are planning to do on the weekends, I frequently suggest going to the zoo. Why not? You can see all the animals in beautiful settings and get exercise walking around to all of the exhibits. Even though I suggest going to the zoo a lot, my husband doesn't always agree that it's a good day for the zoo. When it gets really hot and humid here, I'd rather stay in with air conditioning too!
But I love going there, even in the winter!
~~~~~
Anyway, back to "wrinkled" - I figured that I must have a picture of a "wrinkled" elephant from the St. Louis Zoo. I always take pictures of the animals; especially the big cats! I found a picture of a very "wrinkled" and seemingly very happy elephant rolling in the dirt!Then I found a picture of three ducks in my backyard. They were not "wrinkled" but the pool cover that they are sitting on was rather "wrinkled". I don't think that they minded at all. Willow likes to "help" when I change the sheets.
While I try to straighten them on the bed,
Willow gets them all "wrinkled" up again! Then she purrs like crazy and snuggles into the "wrinkled" sheets!
As always, you can find more Photohunters here!
And here photohunt
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Technorati Tags: photohunt, wrinkled, elephants, ducks, cats

Photohunt Theme:Colorful

The theme this week is "colorful" and

I found this plant that was very attractive to bees and butterflies. I think that it is called a milk thistle. On a few different occasions I managed to get some pretty good close-up pictures of both bees and butterflies on the flowers. But anytime I saw the finches and tried to photograph them, they flew away. Maybe this one finally got used to me being there and I was able to get three shots before he/she flew away.
~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~ As always, you can find more Photohunters here!
And here photohunt
Technorati Tags: finch, thistle, photography, wildlife

Violette Noelle

This is a very sad day.
Little Violette Noelle will be laid to rest.
In memory of "Sprout" my blog is violet today.
Please keep Monty Q and his family in your thoughts
and as requested we will wear violet for Violette.

Sweet Sprout

Tracey and family,
you are in our thoughts and prayers.

The Lily
Ellen Brenneman

We can’t know why the lily has so brief a time to bloom in
the warmth of the sunlight’s kiss upon its face, before it
folds its fragrance in and bids the world goodnight to
rest its beauty in a gentler place.

But we know that nothing that is loved is ever lost, and
no one who has ever touched a heart can really pass
away, because some beauty lingers on in each memory of
which they’ve ever been a part.

WCB: I made Sher's Hummus...

Weekend Cat Blogging has a Special Food Edition this weekend by HotMBC in honor of Sher of What Did You Eat?
~~~~~
I had noticed that Sher seemed to like chickpeas a lot. I have never made hummus before so I thought that today would be a good time to try her hummus recipe from her 4/22/08 post titled Best Hummus? I even had all of the ingredients except the tahini. That seemed like an important part of the recipe and luckily my husband was out running errands so I called him to ask him to pick up some tahini on his way home. I had all the ingredients out and ready when he got home with the tahini. Sher was right - the hummus was ready in about five minutes. Sher had written that the hummus was supposed sit for thirty minutes to let the flavors meld. While they were melding seemed like a good time to get a photograph. It was sunny out in the screened-in porch so I took the bowl out there to try and get a good picture. Willow was out there enjoying the wonderful weather we are having this weekend. It's only 81 degrees with low humidity which is basically unheard of in St. Louis! She looked up at me as I looked for a place to take my picture.I thought that if I set it on the couch the light might be best for the picture.
You can see the curiosity in Willow's eyes while I was setting up.Willow couldn't resist a quick sniff!
And no, she did not get any of it!
But my husband and I really enjoyed it!

Here is Sher's recipe:

Restaurant Style Hummus

(Cook's Illustrated)

1/4 cup water
3 Tablespoons lemon juice
6 Tablespoons well stirred tahini
2 Tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 15 ounce can drained and rinsed chickpeas
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon cumin
pinch of cayenne
about 1 Tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro

Combine the water and lemon juice in one bowl, and the tahini and oil in another. Set aside about 12 of the whole chickpeas for a garnish.

Put the chickpeas, salt, garlic, cumin, and cayenne in a food processor and process for about 15 seconds. Scrap down the sides of the processor. Then add the lemon water mix through the feed tube with the processor running for about 1 minute. Scrap down the sides several times. Then add the oil and tahini, with the processor running, until the hummus is fluffy.

Put the hummus in a bowl, garnish with the cilantro and whole chickpeas, and drizzle with some olive oil if you want.

~~~~~

For all the other Weekend Cat Events, check out these:

Friday Ark is at The Modulator
~~~~~
Weekend Cat Blogging #166 is a Special Food Edition
in honor of Sher of What Did You Eat? at HotMBC
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Bad Kitty Cats Festival of Chaos #57 is hosted by Samantha Black
at the Tuxedo Gang Hideout
~~~~~
Carnival of the Cats #229 is at Miz. Mog and Kitties

PhotoHunt Theme: Dark

The theme this week is "dark" and this is what it looked like
when I came out of the grocery store on Thursday evening around 6:30 p.m.
It was pretty dark, indeed!
And, yes, the rain started while I was still out of my car taking pictures!~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
As always, you can find more Photohunters here!
And here photohunt

Sunday Snuggle Day

Willow was trying to figure out what was going on with that snuggle.
It was moving and she looked really confused. But it was China Cat who loves being under any blankets. For more weekend cat events, try some of these:
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Friday Ark at The Modulator
~~~~~
Weekend Cat Blogging at Pet's Garden Blog
~~~~~
Bad Kitty Cats Festival of Chaos is at Mind of Mog
~~~~~
Carnival of the Cats is hosted by Samantha Black & Mr. Tigger
~~~~~
OK, time to go visit!

PhotoHunt Theme: Clouds

The theme this week is "clouds" and I have taken a lot of pictures of clouds. But I just picked this one series of clouds when we went out to our favorite winery, Sugar Creek. There are corn fields on the way to the winery, which is when I first started photographing the clouds in the distance.We wondered if the rain would move in after we sat down in the garden. It got pretty dark for a while,
but we knew we could run inside if it started pouring down rain! Close-ups are kind of cool... Then there were only a few clouds left floating over the vineyard. When we got back home, you can see some clouds of smoke from the hamburgers
barbecued on the Big Green Egg! What a great day it was! As always, you can find more Photohunters here!
And here photohunt